NMA this Wednesday

The next Neighbourhood Mobilization Alliance (NMA) meeting is this Wednesday March 19th at 7pm in the Conestoga Room at City Hall. Everyone is welcome and representatives from ByLaw, Police and Fire attend regularly.

Living Maze Planned for Breithaupt Park This Year

During 2013, the City of Kitchener began work on their Inner City Park Rehabilitation.  The first of the 100 parks the City is to rehabilitate is Breithaupt Park.  You may have noticed some of our blog posts inviting you to provide input at meetings with the City.  The process is well underway and you may observe some of the changes in the spring. 

One of the ideas that came out of the meetings was a living maze.  So what is a living maze?  I’m not entirely sure but it sounds fun!  

It started with a conversation about children’s fascination with mazes.   At Sir Casimir Gzowski Park in Toronto, I watched as my daughter ran in circles carefully tracing the painted lines on the concrete, often stopping and backtracking until she got to the middle.  She tried again and again in different entrances.  All this fun with the simplicity of concrete and paint!  I later learned that this was actually a wading pool during the summer, and when water is added, it becomes that much more difficult and enjoyable.

As the idea of a maze was vetted out, we realized that we could do something that was living.  There are examples of this in Toronto that City staff have visited.  What if we could get the ‘living’ part from within our neighbourhood and all the wonderful plants our community grows?

But why stop with just getting the plants from our neighbours?  We can do something really special with this idea.  Let’s engage our youth, our teens, our adults, our seniors and people with expertise to conceptualize, design, procure materials and build a show piece in one of our great city parks.

Starting on April 15^th, I will be running a program at the Breithaupt Centre called ‘The Living Maze Project”. (Pg 71 of the Spring Leisure Guide Webreg 157732).  This is a free program and is the first of a 3 part series of programs that will run this spring, summer and fall.  Participate in one or all.

I don’t know exactly how this will all pan out in the end but I am eager to take a stab at it.  I have some ideas of what I want to do but they may not be the ideas that the group want to do.  I want everyone to have input and to create something that is truly community-born.  The slate is clean and all ideas are welcome.

Parents: Eligible students will be able to use this project for volunteer hours.  Better yet, join with your teen and do it together.  Grandparents, you can bring your teenage grandchild too.  This is open to anyone 14 years and older that wants to participate.

The program is scheduled for 11 weeks and runs for 1 ½ hours each week. That may seem like a large time commitment but there are 20 positions available and there will be lots of hands to help so missing a day won't hurt.

If you want to learn about engaging the City, grant writing, design, plants, or just want to help build community, please register for this program.  I promise we will have fun doing it!

Lane Burman

MHBPNA meeting this Saturday

The MHBPNA is having our next meeting on Saturday, March 8 at 10 am at the Breithaupt Centre. It is a public meeting and everyone is welcome.

Winter is still here

It still seems to be winter. We might as well take advantage of the situation. I've been out snow shoeing around our neighbourhood a few times already which has been fun and good exercise.

In addition to the Hillside hill for toboggans (described lovingly in a Blog article of a few weeks back) there are these other hills within short driving distance:

http://tobogganhills.com/?query=kitchener%2C+on&x=45&y=15

Fall newsletter for 2013 now uploaded

It has been a while since we published a newsletter and delivered it. In case you have forgotten, the last one has been uploaded to our website and can be located here:

https://sites.google.com/site/mhbpna/newsletters

This newsletter contains some information that is still relevant, including a schedule for the ongoing "Weber Street Widening" and what to expect this year.

We are working on a newsletter for the spring. Please let us know if you have any community events you would like advertised. 

Let's Get Out and Slide Down a Hill!

This is an article from last year's Blog that is even more appropriate this year!

How great is it that we have a tobogganing hill in our

neighbourhood?

As the snow fell a few weeks ago, my daughter repeatedly whined, “When are we going dad?” She wanted to get to Hillside Park while the snow was still falling. It was her last day of Christmas Break.

I was meeting a friend and his daughter at Hillside Park at 11:30am. When we got there, it was pretty empty. Another family was there, that had come over from the University and Bridge neighbourhood, but that was it. As the day progressed the hill filled up.

There is nothing like getting outside when the snow covers the ground, and the temperatures hover around zero, and the gigantic snow flakes fall. The snow was slick and the hill smooth.

After about 5 runs (only one of which included me), our girls switched to snowman making. I found myself crawling around in the snow, pushing a huge snowball.

We did a couple more runs, then the girls were off to the playground in the park, and we talked to some of the other parents, and ran into another Neighbourhood association member.

If we get some more snow, head down to Hillside with the family. Talk to your neighbours on the hill. And enjoy a good old fashion Canadian tradition.

Some Hillside Park tips:

-Pay attention to the parking signs. Be courteous to the neighbours in the area.

-Wear a helmet. Not only the kids. Parents can be good role models to children by wearing helmets.

-When you get to the bottom of the hill, walk to either the left of the right. Don’t walk back up the middle of the hill. We watched countless kids get taken out who weren’t paying attention.

-The City lines the baseball fence with hay bales.

Lane Burman

Inclusion award from last year

Last year the MHBPNA included Extend-A-Family on our Jane's Walk and worked with them on a couple of other events as well. We were delighted to be given this award and look forward to engaging with them again this year.